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A Very Happy Fannish 50th Birthday to a fannish fringefaan.

2010 books

45) Patrick Süskind, Three Stories and a Reflection, 1996  ( RE-READ )
I first read this slim volume back in 2005 but picked it up again to re-read 'Amnesia in Litteris', Süskind's memorably tongue-in-cheek lament for all the hundreds of books he's read, about which he can remember absolutely nothing. Needless to say I ended up re-reading the remaining stories too which, as usual with Süskind, all differ considerably in style. Best of all is the rather fantastical 'Maître Mussard's Bequest' in which an 18th century jeweller discovers that the entire world – and indeed his own body – are turning into calcified shells, and what every story here shares is the view that if we scratch the surface of the positive opinion we have of ourselves, we find something far less gratifying beneath. A good little collection.